Einherjar
"Did you ask me about Einherjar, son? Well, the only thing I can really tell you that it is in the far north. Over the desolate plains of Morg'nuul. There, you'll see snow and rocky mountains. Only snow and rocky mountains." -Du'Galon, a shady inn patron In northern Morg'Nuul, the temperatue will decrease rapidly to any man. Much to the dismay of any heat-lover travelling further north, snow will surely fall within the day. This is because they have entered Einherjar, the absolute north in Ardalore. Upon first entering, one might expect it to be nothing but rocks and snow; all blown around by the howling winds that make the landscape appear scarred, as if the Creators themselves had struck it with mighty blades. If a traveller survives the journey further northward, a task which is by itself a feat of strength, they would perhaps experience the life that clings to the land: herds of Mammoxen and Snowtusks dig for sustenance beneath the meter-thick, white carpet they tread on, while solitary Frost Bears and packs of the fierce Galefang breed of Frost Wolves prowl the endless wastes, hunting anything down for the warm flesh under the skin. These all explain how a man who has braved the frost can return home and sometimes live upon the deed alone. In fact, the only beings not struggling for survival would be the Nifflung; a race of great, giant-like men who reside on the islands of the now frozen delta which they have dubbed theirs. On one part, they are speculated to descend from Ice Elementals, while on the other part, they resemble the dominant race in the icy wastes; the race known as the Aldruans. The Aldruans The majority of Einherjar is a vast, snow-filled wasteland, strewn with mounatins. These mountains are a natural thing to seek in the hopes of shelter from the fierce storms that often rage around. The majority of these mountains are inhabited by a race of tall, bulky men who call themselves the Aldruans. Heads taller than the common man, the aldruans are considered half-giants in some parts of Ardalore. Tales are often spoken and songs often sung about these northmen, either praising them as the first of humankind, and the slayers of dragons or spreading fear amongst the commonfolk resiting the Aldruans as cruel, ruthless beings. Most of the tales are believed to be false, as nearly no man or woman has returned from Einherjar, at least not in one piece. From the insane and the dismembered, the tales of godslayers, living shadows and giant killers are often spoken but quickly marked as lies and only said by madmen. But the madmen are usually not wrong. Among Elves, however, the Aldruans are known only as despoilers and bringers of winter. While they apparently don't bring the winter on purpose, the parts of Einherjar controlled and inhabited by them were cast into perpetual winter with the conquest. This bringing of winter is seen as a sort of double-edged sword by the Aldruans, as told by POW's taken by the Elves. Going by those tales, the Aldruans were once from a place far from Einherjar, a place of war and violence where the Aldruans were the least warlike of the races (and that's saying something). The journey to Ardalore brought, according to the Aldruans, a curse upon the race which led to them always being haunted by the winter. This has, however, made them stronger as a race and contributed greatly to their present might. This is also why the Aldruans don't seek the warmer climates of the south, but attempt to unleash their might upon the Elven remainders who are to be exterminated as a weaker race. The armour worn by the Aldruan warriors seems to vanish with defeat. putting down arms leads to the armour simply disappearing, thus preventing its type from revelation to the Elves and other curious beingswishing to investigate them. Impervious to most human-strength blows, one must rely on finding openings or heaving some extra might concentrated in a small point on the strange, dark blue metal. The Elves In times of yore, the slopes and flatland of Einherjar were a verdant place, covered in warm meadows and forests and strewn with settlements of all sorts and sizes. Only the West and North West parts were untouched by this serene landscape’s soft, caressing hands. In these places, a variety of Elves had their homes. Then the Aldruans invaded from the West, bringing war, death, and worst of all, winter. In the beginning it was but a couple of encounters and raids on outlying farms, but that soon evolved into skirmishes, raids, and war. The Elves fought fiercely to defend their homelands, but ages of internal intrigue and discrimination had left their armies in bad shape, and it was only through a desperate effort of complete alliance that the Aldruan hordes could be held at bay while the remaining population fled to the northern reaches of their lands. While the united Elven armies had the strength to shatter the Aldruan hordes, the weather had strangely turned colder wherever the barbarians had taken control. The endless winter ravaged the armies who could now no longer receive reinforcements or supplies, and thus an Elven retreat began would see the Aldruans exacting a number of harassing skirmishes, wiping out at least three quarters of the armies before they arrived at the ravines that would serve as land routes into the last Elven land. Since then, the Aldruans have continuously launched skirmishes into the fertile lands, and a near-perpetual battle rages in the mountain range that separates the Elven land from the rest of Einherjar. Today, the Elves live in relative peace, keeping a steady and effective defence up with few losses. Their society remains formally allied from the really bad times, though each race lives rather separately from each other, with few exceptions. Not by law, but rather by convenience, as the different races are defined differently: The High Elves are among the most numerous of Elves. They live a life of grandiose splendour and have a culture where one’s status is largely determined by one’s glamour and luxury. Their Arcane magi are among the most inherently skilled in Ardalore, and the second-greatest academy of Magic on the continent is under High Elven custody. The Wood Elves practice a natural lifestyle, building their homes in the magic forest that dominates the middle of the land. While their numbers are relatively large, some speculate that they possess an ability to appear more numerous than they are. It goes without saying that their woodland lifestyle makes for skilled and experienced herbomancers and rangers, though a Wood Elf on an open field feels akin to a noblewoman on a public square, bear naked. The Grey Elves are the most harmonious race of all. Valuing wisdom and patience, they care little for craftsmanship or glamour unlike the High Elves, with whom they coexist closely. Rather few in numbers, their philosophical prowess makes them prime scholars, and as such many of the most accomplished Elves in academic studies can be found among the Grey Elves. The Sea Elves bear a strange appearance: Their skin has a blue hue, while their eyes are entirely black. They have a profound compassion for the sea and its creatures, and it is speculated that many of their kin had simply taken it to living seaborne during the Aldruan invasion, seeing as gills can be found on every Sea Elf’s body. As can be guessed, their penchant for aquamancy makes them not only great water magi, but also skilled sailors, and thus they almost all live by the water. Black Elves are, as the name suggests, pitch black. Their eyes have taken a yellow hue, and their hair is white as the chalk found in their mines. They live solely underground and usually only come out at night, as the sun is a major irritant to them. Inside their caverns, they practice a rather twisted form of Life magic, called Fleshcraft or Epimancy. This way of altering living things has given the Black Elves a large assortment of creatures to do their bidding, and the magic is so used that the Elves have gained an affinity towards it, meaning magic-wielding Black Elves are potentially rather skilled in all Life Magic, be it traditional healing or this Epimancy of theirs. The Ice Elves are believed to share a sort of kinship to the Sea Elves, given that they both fare well with water and both have blue skin with completely black eyes. The Ice Elves, however, have a much brighter shade of blue while also lacking the gills of the Sea Elves. Also, they dwell predominantly on higher altitudes where the winds give them the coolness which they, in contrast to the other Elves, very much enjoy. This feature has made them sort of reviled among many of the other Elves, who somehow link them to the wintry conditions that have been brought upon their former homes. Nonetheless, the Ice Elves have their place in Elven society, where, they practice their Glaciomancy with skill and easy. The Gale Elves are among the least numerous of Elves. Skilled Aeromancers by inheritance, these Elves like to live elevated high off the ground, where they can feel the wind blowing. While these tall, light-hearted Elves are among the friendliest beings north of Morg’Nuul, they are unfortunately few in numbers, as the Aldruans took their homes in the mountains by storm, leading to a genocide on high scales, though not as high as the one committed on the Flame Elves. The Dark Elves are notorious for their malevolent nature. Feared by many others, the grey-skinned Elves live in a secluded society where the one who can keep a knife out of his back longest is the one with the highest status. Those of the Dark Elves who are fortunate enough to wield magic - most often nyctomancers - have a tendency of sitting in the higher echelons of society, given their obvious advantage over their more manual kin. However, all Dark Elves are known to have servants in the shape of… …the Cave Elves. During the Aldruan invasion, these primitive beings suffered greatly, as the caverns in which they dwell were taken en masse by the Aldruans. Though they are not necessarily weak to sunlight, Cave Elves are all positively frightened of going outside, their lives being a somewhat troglodytic existence in service of the Dark Elves. Almost milky white-skinned with burning red eyes, their Shaman - inherently skilled Terramancers - are the only mediators ensuring that the Cave Elves are servants rather than slaves of their malevolent and intriguing masters. Wild Elves are a reclusive lot. Spiritual much more than religious, they do an honour in arranging skirmishes into Aldruan lands, often with Ice-Elven support. Their bodies clad in fur, their hair wild and untamed as the beasts they may transform into, these Elves are among the few sapient creatures of Ardalore incapable of magic-wielding. Rather, each Wild Elf is born into a complex Zodiac represented by an animal they will then be able to transform into. The Witch Elves are looked upon with mixed feelings. On one hand, they posses powerful, destructive magic that has saved the day on the battlefield more than once, while on the other hand… Well, they posses powerful, destructive magic that has obliterated the chance of Elven victory on the battlefield more than once. The hair of these Elves’ magi is constantly raised, given the static electricity that surrounds them. Powerful Electromancers, their low numbers are the result of dangerous situations, where thunderstorms have ravaged their settlements, not setting anything ablaze, but instead just breaking things apart with great force. The Flame Elves have a tragic story. Skilled Pyromancers and the driving force behind the perpetual warmth of yore, these fire-affiliated practitioners of altruism were among the more loving of Elves, many of whom had jobs of caring for others in one way or another. When the Aldruans came, however, they were the first to defend the Elven lands, and the first to fall. In the winter that came along, almost every single Flame Elf took to the front in a desperate attempt to drive back the cold. This, however, proved futile, and the seemingly divine harshness of the winter eventually drained the Flame Elves of their strength. The last survivors died, one after another, of sorrow. And at last, the Ober Elves are at the same time the least numerous and least afflicted by the Aldruans. Their residence since old times has always been within the divine realm of Ober, the portal to which they guard on an island off of Einherjar’s northern coast. These beings are thought to be the agents of the Creators themselves, given their at all times low numbers, great wisdom, and masterful abilities in the mythical Deomancy, the magic utilized almost solely by the Creators. The Ober Elves’ skin bears a glint of either precious metals or gems, and their presence is always a welcome sight.'' The Nifflung In the far northwest of Einherjar lies a frozen delta, dotted with large, horned structures covered in snow. These igloos of a sort are the dwellings of the Nifflung, a race whose ancestry can be traced back to Giants and men alike, with a bit of Ice Elemental in the mix. These man-like creatures are about half the size of Giants, with long, muscular arms and a blue colour to their skin. Little is known about them, as they are rather xenophobic and only doubtful stories exist of them hunting and slaying Sea Wurms, performing powerful Glaciomancy spells, and shaping their homes out of their dead. While they bear many resemblances to the Aldruans in their appearance, no actual ties have ever been confirmed, and the only contact between the two races speak of battle, often with Nifflung victory. Many Aldruan legends, however, speak of a "Northern Large Man" who supposedly spearheaded many assaults on Elven settlements, a thing no Elven scriptures depict.